I was sick of all the mentions of his wife, 'Poor Cath, blah blah blah'

But the amount of tons and wickets he seemed to be taking for a period, almost every other Test a ton or a 5 for

There's no doubting his cricketing ability, indeed for a time he was almost as good as he keeps on telling everyone he was. For me his description of the Randall run out by Boycott at Trent Bridge in 1977 is so bad it calls into question the accuracy of his other recollections. According to Botham, Boycott played the ball straight to a fielder in the covers, when in reality the ball went back to the bowler - Jeff Thomson - who returned to Marsh and he ran out Randall. A small detail perhaps, but if his memory is that distorted it makes you wonder about the rest of the book.

But sadly, it was only for a relatively short time. Had he twigged some sort of back muscle after the First Test in India in 1981\82 and never been able to bowl again, then damaged a cruciate-ligament after the first-innings of the Third Test in 1984, maybe he might just be remembered as the greatest all-rounder ever, or someone who was completely ruined by injury.

As it is, though, he kept going and became a wholly average player for a fair time. I don't really think this makes any impact on his earlier skills (unlike the C_Cs of this World) so hence I'd just say.

"Early" Botham >>>>>>>>>>> Kapil. "Later" Botham <<<<< Kapil.

Kapil who really did remain remarkably the same with bat and ball virtually thoughout his career.